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Suomen Puolustusvoimat - Finnish Defense Forces
The Suomen Puolustusvoimat, or Finnish Defense Forces are responsible for defending the sovereignty of Finland and the way of life of the Finnish people. It is a cadre army of 25,000, of which 10,900 are professional soldiers (officers), extended with conscripts and reservists such that the standard readiness strength is 64,700 people in uniform (46,300 Army, 4,000 Navy, and 4,400 Air Force). Finland's 2029 white paper defense policy states that the 350,000 reservists with mostly ground weaponry are a sufficient deterrent. The army consists of a highly mobile field army backed up by local defence units. The army defends the national territory and its military strategy exploits the use of the heavily forested terrain and numerous lakes to wear down an aggressor, instead of attempting to hold the attacking army on the frontier. The Finnish Defense Forces are under the command of the Chief of Defense (currently General Ari Puheloinen), who is directly subordinate to the President of the Republic in matters related to the military command. Apart from the General Staff, the military branches are the Finnish Army (Maavoimat), the Finnish Navy (Merivoimat) and the Finnish Air Force (Ilmavoimat). The Border Guard (Rajavartiolaitos) (including the coast guard) is under the Ministry of the Interior but can be incorporated fully or in part into the defense forces when required. The Finnish Defense Forces are then further divided into 4 military provinces, Southern, Western, Eastern, and Northern. These are then divided into 19 districts which are responsible for carrying out the conscription process and preparing for regional defense. Finnish Army The Finnish Army, or Suomen armeijan ''is the land forces branch of the Finnish Defense Forces. Today's Army is divided into six branches: the infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, engineers, signals, and materiel troops. Commanded by Lieutenant General Raimo Jyväsjärvi, the Finnish Army has a peace-time readiness size of 46,300 people in uniform. The Finish Army maintains 270 MBTs including Leopard 2A6's, Leopard 2A4's, and T-55s. It also maintains 210 Infantry Fighting Vehicles, 1000 Armoured Personnel Carriers, and 650 All-Terrain Vehicles. As well as ~70 Self Propelled Guns The Finnish Army is also in possession of 860 Anti-Aircraft Guns, 170 Surface to Air missile launch systems which encompass all of the Finnish anti-Aircraft capabilities. The Finnish army also contains 70 MLRSs, 486 Field Howitzers, 208 Field Guns, 45 Self-Propelled Mortars, 900 Heavy Mortars, as well as 1,400 light mortars. 158 Guided Anti-Tank Weapons, and around 70,000 Unguided Anti-Tank weapons. The Finnish Utti Jaeger Regiment also contains 40 NH90 Helicopters, as well as 66 UAVs Finnish Air Force The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF), or ''Suomen ilmavoimat is one of the branches of the Finnish Defense Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions. As a separate branch of the military, the Finnish Air Force was founded on 4 May 1928, having existed officially since 6 March 1918 as the Army Corps of Aviation. Currently under the command of Major General Lauri Puranen, the Finnish Air Force's main Fighter is the F/A-18 Hornet, in Finland known as the F-18, originally 50 F/A-18 Hornets were purchased from California but a further 20 were purchased in 2023. The original 50 F-18s were upgraded and brought to new international standards in 2030. 65 BAE Hawk Trainer-Attack aircraft are also in service with the Finnish Air Force, and are generally used as trainer aircraft but in times of war are pulled forwards as ground attack aircraft. The FAFs standard readiness strength is 3,100 personnel with 38,000 personnel mobilized. Aircraft Inventory of the FAF: * 70 F/A-18 Hornets * 7 EADS CASA C-295s * 7 Valmet L-90 Redigos * 6 Pilatus PC-12s * 3 Learjet 35s * 75 BAE Hawks * 28 Valmet L-70 Vinkas * Total:196 arcraft Finnish Navy The Finnish Navy, or Suomen merivoimien is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Navy employs 2,300 people and about 4,300 conscripts are trained each year. Finnish Navy vessels are given the ship prefix "FNS" simply short for "Finnish Navy Ship" and it is not used in Finnish language contexts. The Finnish Navy also includes coastal forces and coastal artillery. Currently under the command of Rear Admiral Kari Takanen the Finnish Navy at mobilized strength has over 31,000 personnel. The Navy operates missile patrol boats as it's main deterrent and is designed for homeland defense as opposed to international operations. Vessels Amphibious Assault Ship: *FNS Valtameri (Former HMS Ocean, Bought from NBE in 2024) Destroyers: *1 (+1) JBDP (Rhokeus)-Class Fast Attack Craft: * 4 Hamina-Class * 3 Rauma-Class Mine Warfare: * 2 Hämeenmaa-class minelayers/escort ships * 3 Pansio-class minelayers * 3 Katanpää-class mine countermeasure vessels * 3 Kuha-class minesweepers * 6 Kiiski-class minesweepers Submarines: * FNS Vyborg (Type 209/1400 Class) Landing Craft: *~150 J & G Class (Including some 60 in storage) *~30 older U class (Set to be replaced by 20 G class vessels 2035) Auxiliaries: *'''15 Transports *6 Command launches *5 Training ships *4 Tugs *2 cable boats *3 Pollution Control Vessels '''Future Vessels The Finnish Navy in co-operation with the Commonwealth Kingdom of Poland's Royal Navy is producing the JBDP (Joint Baltic Destroyer Project) which is a brand new class of Missile Destroyers intended to boost both the Finnish and Polish Navy's operational capability..